A Carnival of Carnage | Deception IV: Blood Ties Review

<p>Beginning nearly 20 years ago on the original PlayStation&comma; Tecmo&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Deception<&sol;em> is a much lesser known series about letting your masochistic desires run rampant&period; Fans of these niche games have waited quite some time for the fourth entry in the saga&period; The good news is&comma; the wait is over&period; Entitled <em>Deception IV&colon; Blood Ties<&sol;em>&comma; players will find themselves stepping into the role of the Devil&&num;8217&semi;s daughter&period; The daughter of darkness is no joke&comma; as she employs the services of three demon mistresses to lure enemies into complex and sometimes even gruesome traps&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111624&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-61076 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111624&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Blood-Ties-Gameplay-1" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The powers of elaborate&comma; humiliation&comma; and sadistic are your tools in this strategy-focused action game&period; In your castle&comma; you are the ruler&comma; but many people wish to take you down or simply they have wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time and so it is your job to fight back&comma; with traps&period; The game takes place in the third-person perspective&comma; with the ability to move around freely&comma; but with no way of defense &lpar;unless you pick the easy difficulty&rpar;&period; With no ability to attack your enemies&comma; you must avoid them while setting up traps that will unleash a horde of terrors when they step into the wrong place&period; Timing is key here&comma; as not only must you manually set off traps when the time is right&comma; but you must also be careful to not accidentally catch yourself in the crossfire&period; There were several times&comma; especially early on&comma; that I mistakenly launched myself in the air by my own springboard&period; It was amusing&comma; of course&comma; but also enlightening&period; The game does a good job of pacing you to the point where you are a Rube Goldberg-like pro&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With things like boulders&comma; swinging axes&comma; pumpkin heads&comma; banana peels&comma; and so much more at your disposal&comma; the options for carnage are nearly limitless in <em>Deception IV<&sol;em>&period; There is no mistaking the fun that can be found in being the bad guy&period; However&comma; the length of the game itself is rather disappointing&period; The story mode represents the bulk that the game has to offer&comma; with completion in just about 10 hours&period; The fun doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have to end there&comma; though&comma; as free modes where you customize and create your own scenarios and the ability to download player-generated content&comma; enhances and expands your experience&period; Not to mention that catching someone in a bear trap and knocking them into a wall of spikes is a great way to relieve stress and frustration on a hard day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111616&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-61077 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111616&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Blood Ties Gameplay 2" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The actual main story mode takes place over multiple chapters&period; Containing a very informative tutorial for new &lpar;or old&rpar; players&comma; the game doesn&&num;8217&semi;t just throw you in with no guidance&period; At the beginning of each chapter&comma; you are introduced to your enemy&lpar;s&rpar; with a short scene or conversation&comma; describing how or why they ended up at your humble abode&period; From there&comma; things get nasty as you are thrown into real-time combat with the ability to pause time to set up traps&period; During the actual gameplay&comma; you have the option to zoom in onto the NPC and actually gain a little bit of info on them&comma; like name&comma; stats&comma; and even some background about their character&&num;8217&semi;s life&period; Despite all this&comma; the gameplay just feels shallow&period; There was clearly a lot of detail and depth given to the trap mechanics&comma; but other than that&comma; this is a very average game&period; There aren&&num;8217&semi;t any major technical hiccups&comma; but there aren&&num;8217&semi;t any marvels either&period; The presentation is typical&comma; graphics are outdated&comma; and animations are very simple&period; The localization is done alright&comma; with no real noticeable errors and the original Japanese voiceovers&comma; thankfully&comma; are left intact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; everything just screams average&period; Sure&comma; there are a ton of gags and giggles to be found in <em>Deception IV<&sol;em>&comma; but I never felt like I absolutely needed to play this game&period; What&&num;8217&semi;s amazing though&comma; is that the euphoria I gained from planting a successful trap kept me always coming back for more and that is Blood Ties&&num;8217&semi; redeeming factor&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll keep wanting to play this game and not really know why&period; There is just an innate&comma; primal desire that <em>Deception IV<&sol;em> feeds into and it almost becomes like an addiction&period; The more you play&comma; the more your endorphins go wild&comma; and the more you need to keep playing so that you continue to feel that rush&period; Sadly&comma; the downside to this is that I had to be in a particular mood to really want to play it&period; This is by no means something you pick up and play for two days straight to completion&period; This is a game best played in small&comma; bite-sized doses every once in a while&period; That type of style actually lends itself really well to the PlayStation Vita&comma; which I reviewed <em>Deception IV<&sol;em> on&period; The game is also available on PlayStation 3&comma; in case you want to see all the gore on your big screen&comma; but the game really does find its place on Sony&&num;8217&semi;s handheld&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111608&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-3&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-61078 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05111608&sol;Blood-Ties-Gameplay-3-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Blood Ties Gameplay 3" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; <em>Deception IV<&sol;em> is an average game with one very striking feature&colon; it&&num;8217&semi;s fun&period; If you go in expecting a very complex and lengthy game with AAA production value&comma; then you will be sorely disappointed&period; However&comma; if you go in knowing what this game really is and that being a very fun&comma; niche&comma; and unique Japanese game&comma; then you will be rewarded with hours of addictive gameplay&period; There really is no game like this and so if you are looking for something completely unique&comma; be it for home or on the go&comma; then <em>Deception IV&colon; Blood Ties<&sol;em> is well worth a try&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;